Characterizing Seismicity in Alberta for Induced-Seismicity Applications

Author

Luqi Cui, The University of Western OntarioFollow

Degree

Master of Science

Program

Geophysics

Supervisor

Dr. Gail Atkinson

Abstract

This report documents the compilation of a high-quality catalog of earthquakes in Alberta and the surrounding region: the Composite Alberta Seismicity Catalog (CASC). It currently includes events through July 2015. The catalog and its documentation are available for download at www.inducedseismicity.ca. For the determination of the magnitude of completeness (M_c) of the catalog, we map M_c (x_i, y_i, t) across a grid of the region, where x_i and y_i represent the longitude and latitude of center nodes in the grid and t indicates time period. The empirical relation determined from the catalog and station data is of the form M_c(D₄) = aD₄+c, where D₄ is the distance from (x_i, y_i) to the fourth-nearest station. Seven M_cmaps are created to represent spatial variations of M_c from 1985 to 2015. Based on the derived M_c maps, we estimate the equivalent rate of occurrences of M ≥3 earthquakes in various grids.

Recommended Citation

Cui, Luqi, "Characterizing Seismicity in Alberta for Induced-Seismicity Applications" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3347.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3347